The Rainbow Tail

In an ancient kingdom, there lived a sweet-looking little boy.

The little boy's father was a tailor, and their family lived in the tailor's shop. His mother took care of his two younger sisters and newborn brother.

Lately, the little boy's favorite thing to do every day was to gaze at his father's fabrics. These fabrics were meant for the town's youth to use in engagement ceremonies,

But the fabrics weren't meant to make those exquisite clothes. Instead, they were made into tails—different colored fabric tails.

A red tail, like a wave of fire, symbolized a longing for a passionate love. A blue tail, like the vast ocean, represented the hope of finding a relationship that would bring calmness. A purple tail, like the color of lavender, symbolized a longing for a romantic love...

At the engagement ceremony, each young person could choose their own fabric tail and then search for the one who matched them, the one whose tail complemented theirs. A red tail could match with another red tail, or with a purple tail representing romance. However, there was one color that was an exception.

The black tail, a color of darkness. Hollow and void. Choosing this tail meant that the person did not wish to seek love that year. Other young people, upon seeing someone with a black tail, would generally not approach them.

The little boy grew up, and this year, he could participate in the engagement ceremony for the first time. The boy stared at the tails, lost in thought.

Because his father made these fabric tails, he would always watch the engagement ceremony. Everyone would find someone with a tail that matched their own color. Green paired with blue, yellow with orange, red with purple...

But, the boy already had someone he liked.

He had grown up with her. He liked her, but he didn't know if she liked him back.

Of course, he also didn't know what color tail she would choose.

The little boy stared at the fabric tails, dazed. He didn't know which one to choose. He didn't know what she liked.

"Maybe she likes the blue tail. She always tells me to read those books I can't bear to finish. No, no, she likes the red one. She dragged me to steal eggs from Sister Cuihua's hen. No, she likes the purple one! She said that when she grows up, she'll eat dinner at home with only candlelight."

The little boy agonized over it all night, still unable to figure out which tail she liked. The next day, with panda eyes, he went to the engagement ceremony. The ceremony was the same as always—the same music, the same little cakes, even the tablecloths were the same striped ones. But this year's ceremony had a different little tailor participating. He wore a black tail.

The little tailor was afraid of choosing the wrong tail. Terrified, he feared that if he guessed wrong, he would lose her. So he would rather miss out for a year.

The little tailor wore his black tail and sat with his head down. He thought about the girl, about the look in her eyes that only her parents could see when she urged him to study, about the dirty look on her face when she gave him all the stolen eggs, and about the proud determination in her voice when she spoke of her future. The little boy's tears fell uncontrollably, landing on the tail coiled around him.

Like a fairy tale, when the boy's tears touched the black tail, it shimmered in the sunlight with the colors of the rainbow. The black color faded, and the vibrant hues burst forth. The little boy was stunned. He stared at the little black—no, little rainbow—tail for a long time.

The little boy hugged his tail and ran to the girl's house. He saw the little girl, her eyes also ringed with dark circles and tears still on her cheeks, staring in surprise at her rainbow tail.

He smiled at her, and she gave him a silly grin in return.

In the end, the most beautiful words in the world aren't "I like you," but "I like you too."